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"He knew I was a father and that thou art an only child; one of his good
sense and right way of thinking should have better understood the feelings
of a man in my situation, than to doubt his natural affection."
"As he has never been the parent of an only daughter, father," answered
the smiling Adelheid, for, in her present mood, smiles came easily, "he
may not have felt or anticipated all that thou imagin'st. He knew the
prejudices of the world on the subject of noble blood, and they are few
indeed, that, having much, are disposed to part with it to him who hath
little."
"The lad reasoned more like an old miser than a young soldier, and I have
a great mind to let him feel my displeasure for thinking so meanly of me.
Have we not Willading, with all its fair lands, besides our rights in the
city, that we need go begging money of others, like needy mendicants! Thou
hast been in the conspiracy against my character, girl, or such a fear
could not have either uneasiness for a moment."
"I never thought, father, that thou would'st reject him on account of
poverty, for I knew our own means sufficient for all our own wants; but I
did believe that he who could not boast the privileges of nobility might
fail to gain thy favor."
"Are we not a republic?--is not the right of the buergerschaft the one
essential right in Berne--why should I raise obstacles about that on which
the laws are silent?"
Adelheid listened, as a female of her years would be apt to listen to
words so grateful, with a charmed ear; and yet she shook her head, in a
way to express an incredulity that was not altogether free from
apprehension.
"For thy generous forgetfulness of old opinions in behalf of my happiness,
dearest father," she resumed, the tears starting unbidden to her
thoughtful blue eye, "I thank thee fervently. It is true that we are
inhabitants of a republic, but we are not the less noble."
"Dost thou turn against thyself, and hunt up reasons why I should not do
that which thou hast just acknowledged to be so necessary to prevent thee
from following thy brothers and sisters to their early graves?"
The blood rushed in a torrent to the face of Adelheid, for though, weeping
and in the moment of tender confidence which succeeded her thanksgivings
for the baron's safety, she had thrown herself on his bosom, and confessed
that the hopelessness of the sentiments with which she met the declared
love of Sigismund was the true cause of the apparent malady that had so
much alarmed her friends, the words which had flowed spontaneously from
her heart, in so tender a scene, had never appeared to her to convey a
meaning so strong, or one so wounding to virgin-pride, as that which her
father, in the strength of his masculine habits, had now given them.
"In God's mercy, father, I shall live, whether united to Sigismund or not,
to smooth thine own decline, and to bless thy old age. A pious daughter
will never be torn so cruelly from one to whom she is the last and only
stay. I may mourn this disappointment, and foolishly wish, perhaps, it
might have been otherwise; but ours is not a house of which the maidens
die for their inclinations in favor of any youths, however deserving!"
"Noble or simple," added the baron, laughing, for he saw that his daughter
spoke in sudden pique, rather than from her excellent heart. Adelheid,
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whose good sense, and quick recollections, instantly showed her the
weakness of this little display of female feeling, laughed faintly in her
turn, though she repeated his words as if to give still more emphasis to
her own.
"This will not do, my daughter. They who profess the republican doctrine,
should not be too rigid in their constructions of privileges. If Sigismund
be not noble, it will not be difficult to obtain for him that honorable
distinction, and, in failure of male line, he may bear the name and
sustain the honors of our family. In any case he will become of the
buergerschaft, and that of itself will be all that is required in Berne."
"In Berne, father," returned Adelheid, who had so far forgotten the recent
movement of pride as to smile on her fond and indulgent parent, though,
yielding to the waywardness of the happy, she continued to trifle with her
own feelings--"it is true. The buergerschaft will be sufficient for all
the purposes of office and political privileges, but will it suffice for
the opinions of our equals, for the prejudices of society, or for your own
perfect contentment, when the freshness of gratitude shall have passed?"
"Thou puttest these questions, girl, as if employed to defeat thine own
cause--Dost not truly love the boy, after all?"
"On this subject, I have spoken sincerely and as became thy child,"
frankly returned Adelheid. "He saved my life from imminent peril, as he
has now saved thine, and although my aunt, fearful of thy displeasure,
would not that thou should'st hear the tale, her prohibition could not
prevent gratitude from having its way. I have told thee that Sigismund has
declared his feelings, although he nobly abstained from even asking a
return, and I should not have been my mother's child, could I have
remained entirely indifferent to so much worth united to a service so
great What I have said of our prejudices is, then, rather for your
reflection, dearest sir, than for myself. I have thought much of all this,
and am ready to make any sacrifice to pride, and to bear all the remarks
of the world, in order to discharge a debt to one to whom I owe so much.
But, while it is natural, perhaps unavoidable, that I should feel thus,
thou art not necessarily to forget the other claims upon thee. It is true
that, in one sense, we are all to each other, but there is a tyrant that
will scarce let any escape from his reign; I mean opinion. Let us then not
deceive ourselves--though we of Berne affect the republic, and speak much
of liberty, it is a small state, and the influence of those that are
larger and more powerful among our neighbors rules in every thing that
touches opinion. A noble is as much a noble in Berne, in all but what the
law bestows, as he is in the Empire--and thou knowest we come of the
German root, which has struck deep into these prejudices."
The Baron de Willading had been much accustomed to defer to the superior
mind and more cultivated understanding of his daughter, who, in the
retirement of her father's castle, had read and reflected far more than
her years would have probably permitted in the busier scenes of the world.
He felt the justice of her remark, and they had walked the entire length
of the terrace in profound silence, before he could summon the ideas
necessary to make a suitable answer.
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